$1.2m not enough to fix Mount St: Brenton Best

BRADDON Labor MP Brenton Best says his party's pledge of $1.2million to upgrade Burnie's Mount Street is not enough.

Mr Best met with community members yesterday and said the general mood was against Deputy Premier Bryan Green's funding announcement of $1.2 million.

"Look, $1.2 million for the reconstruction and sealing of the road is a good starting point, but it really is inadequate. What we need is a full redevelopment of Mount Street," Mr Best said.

He pointed out the redevelopment of Devonport's Formby Road, saying Mount Street fell short compared to that work.

"Mount Street, Burnie, is far more problematic than Formby Road," he said.

"It's not just the fact that the pavement is totally breaking up, there are embankment issues, realignments required, major undulations along the entire length, there are many dangerous trees overhanging the three lanes, blind spots with the location of bus stops and shared middle turning lanes where head-on traffic turns in front of each other. It needs a full redevelopment."

"Residents in Upper Burnie are saying Bryan has got it wrong," he said.

"They are asking for a proper full redevelopment of the road equal to the redevelopment of the Formby Road entry point into Devonport.

"These fly-in, fly-out announcements from Hobart by Bryan don't reflect what the community is wanting.

"The people are being sold short on an inadequate policy."

Mr Green said the funding delivered for the Mount Street upgrade was in line with what the Burnie City Council sought for the project in its submission to the community roads program.

"There is always more we would like to do, but a project of the scale of Formby Road would also need a funding commitment from the federal government, which provided $5 million towards that upgrade," Mr Green said.

"The Murchison Highway and Mount Street upgrades are significant commitments and Labor is doing what it can with the funds that are available."